Artist Christina You-sun Park becomes executive director of Arizona Commission on the Arts, just as Arizona approves a state budget that slashes funding for the NEA affiliate by 60%.
PHOENIX, AZ—Christina You-sun Park has been named the new executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts. The Phoenix-based artist, an alumna of the Eye Lounge collective whose professional experience also includes arts administration, will assume leadership of the state arts agency and National Endowment for the Arts affiliate on June 21, just in time to help the commission adapt to the realities of the state’s latest budget machinations.
Facing significant deficits many have attributed to expanding an existing school voucher program and prior tax cuts, Arizona policymakers put forth reductions in numerous areas during late-stage budget negotiations for fiscal year 2025, proposing a zero allocation for Arizona Commission on the Arts, which is a state agency working to increase access to the arts throughout Arizona, largely through programs and grants that support local artists and arts organizations.
Ultimately, the state adopted a FY 2025 budget (July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025) that includes a $2 million allocation for the commission. By contrast, the state’s FY 2024 and FY 2023 budgets included $5 million allocations for the Arizona Commission on the Arts, so the $2 million represents a 60% reduction. For perspective, consider that the agency’s FY 2024 budget exceeded $7 million, with just 15% of its revenue coming from the NEA and another 15.8% coming from the state’s arts trust fund.
I remember applying for grants from the commission as an artist, and I know just how important that funding can be.
“I remember applying for grants from the commission as an artist, and I know just how important that funding can be,” Park told me just days before assuming her new position. “There’s a part of me that’s excited about the $2 million, because that’s definitely better than zero, but I also recognize that we have to continue the hard work and advocacy for increased funding from the state and more stability for the agency.”
Park’s comments point to another factor that complicates the agency’s ability to plan ahead. For more than a decade, the commission has operated without knowing whether funds would be allocated in the Arizona budget from year to year, beyond those it receives from a separate state source related to corporation commission filing fees.
“Everyone in the arts and culture sector has experience with fluctuating budgets,” says Park, who moved from Washington, D.C., fourteen years ago to attend graduate school, earning a Master of Fine Arts in visual art with a specialty in sculpture at Arizona State University in 2013. “Uncertain budgets are always a challenge, and they keep artists and arts organizations from being able to fully plan for their futures. The arts sector has become used to a certain amount of volatility, but it’s never easy.”
The budget news is just the latest twist for the Arizona Commission on the Arts, which has faced significant leadership changes in recent years.
The commission abruptly fired its last executive director in October 2022 after she’d spent just nine months in the position, and the agency only recently obtained a full roster of fifteen commissioners following several appointments made by Governor Katie Hobbs. Eighteen months ago, the commission’s board comprised residents of metropolitan Phoenix. Today, seven of the fifteen are based in other regions, including Bisbee, Camp Verde, Flagstaff, Globe, and Tucson.
Park brings experience working with diversity-related issues to her new position at Arizona Commission on the Arts, having served most recently as the associate director for the Studio for Creativity, Place and Equitable Communities at Arizona State University, which seeks to redress historic inequities through integrating arts, culture, and design into community development, planning, and related fields. Park notes that the studio was founded by María Rosario Jackson, who has served since January 2022 as Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.
“I have a lot of experience with what it means to provide services to all communities, including those living with economic, social, or other types of marginalization,” reflects Park. Providing access to the arts to all Arizonans is a core part of the agency’s mission, which Park plans to foster in part by spending time in various parts of the state and having conversations with diverse artists, arts workers, and other community members.
She’ll also be working with the commission on a new strategic plan for the agency, as well as looking ahead to the state’s FY 2026 budget process. Community members who want to learn more about Park’s vision and the agency’s work can attend quarterly board meetings, which are held at various locations throughout the state and shared via audio stream online. Meeting dates are posted on the calendar page of the Arizona Commission on the Arts website.
In terms of her own time spent making art, Park is expecting that the nature of her creative practice may shift in the years ahead, much like it did when she became a parent with two children. Park says that she’s been creating visual art for about two decades, and recently joined a community band as a tuba player, but says most of her artistic practice these days centers on community-based projects.
As Park begins her tenure with the commission, which currently has thirteen staff members, she’ll have at least one clear data point affirming the significance and reach of the arts in Arizona.
According to the latest Arts and Economic Prosperity study issued by Americans for the Arts, a national nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., working to advance arts and arts education, Arizona’s nonprofit arts and culture sector “generated a staggering $1.1 billion in economic activity” during 2022.
There’s a disconnect with what we know about the economic impact of the arts, as well as the way arts and culture feeds the soul, and what we see in public policy related to the arts.
“There’s a disconnect with what we know about the economic impact of the arts, as well as the way arts and culture feeds the soul, and what we see in public policy related to the arts,” says Park. “Part of my role will be to build connections with policymakers and show them the many ways that art impacts both individuals and communities.”
Whether positive data about arts and culture will move the needle when it comes to future Arizona budget decisions remains to be seen. In any case, it’s clear that affirming the value of arts and culture will be a high priority for Park, who says “the vibrancy and innovation of arts and culture in Arizona and the Southwest” is what’s kept her in the region all this time.
“Unfortunately, that vibrancy isn’t always seen by others, or it’s seen with a different lens by funders and others who concentrate their attention on the coasts,” says Park. “I’m asking the question of how we can uplift this vibrancy that exists in arts and culture in the Southwest, and get more funding and support for our communities?”
Meanwhile, she’s also considering the big picture.
“The arts are a critical part of the ways we see ourselves as humans,” explains Park. “As we continue to have conversations and build community, we create connections across partisan lines that help us promote healing.”
